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Plato's View On Happiness: The Pursuit Of Happiness

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“The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge”, says the British philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell. It is clear that such a mere definition of good life would not be enough if we wanted to thoroughly discuss on happiness, which at the end of the day constitutes the main notion attributed to having a good life. But what is happiness then? Is it simply a relative state of mind or something more related to a possible universal definition about it? There are seven billion people living out there, and that is a fact. But at the same time there are also as many strivings to live a happy life, which makes up another fact we cannot deny. The pursuit of happiness is not a modern notion; hence the happiness was always something …show more content…

It is certain that what comprises this quotation does not comprise the whole philosophy of Socrates. Nevertheless it points to the fact that Socrates did indeed think a lot when it came to reaching a good life, consequently living happy. However, Socrates does not merely tell us what a good life is, but rather he guides us how to reach it. Socrates teaches us that that everyone should strive to do well, and just after we have learnt to do well, we will reach eudaimonia or happiness. But this point is more like a subject of how one is able to learn how to do well. So in this context Socrates advocated his philosophy through what we call today “the Socratic method”, meaning that one should constantly question, scrutinize and analyze things via an interrogative approach either to oneself or to the others. This can more easily be explained by the fact that Socrates believed that there is no such person that would wish to do bad, thus he believes that doing bad comes simply as the result of ignorance. In this context Socrates says that one should deliberately strive for virtue by questioning unstoppably, until they reach it and become wise. Therefore virtue in Socrates’ context is comprised by knowledge. Thus, one who has reached knowledge will certainly have a good

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